Towards a Stranglehold on 8th

WBA 1-2 Arsenal F.C.

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as the season draws to a close, and we head into the last six games of the current campaign, there's one real goal (beyond the stated target of reaching a 50 point tally in the league) that the baggies can aspire to: that is to finish the season in 8th place. they have occupied this spot in the table for a number of weeks now and if they can maintain their form and take the necessary points available from their remaining fixtures, that is almost certainly where they will finish.

it may sound somewhat absurd to say so, but for a side like west bromwich albion, this would actually be a more significant accomplishment than winning the league would be for a club like manchester united, where claiming the premiership title has become an annual expectation.


at this particular moment in time, this is about as well as the baggies could do in the almighty, bloody PREMIER LEAGUE. to be fair, there are really no teams that currently sit ahead of the baggies in the table that don't belong there (i.e. liverpool, everton, tottenham etc.); and, with their status as a relatively new arrival to the top-flight, their present gate revenues, merchandising, budget, and the quality of players that are available to a club of their size, to finish anywhere in the top half of the table is, in all practical terms, a remarkable achievement.

West Ham Utd. 3-1 WBA

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west brom will finish their season fighting to stay ahead of swansea city, and establish themselves as the top "second grade" team in the country. in light of the relatively poor form of some of the larger (and richer) clubs like newcastle, aston villa and sunderland, that is what an 8th place finish in the league would represent this year.

in fact, the recent loss to a ten-man arsenal side probably ended the chance of overtaking liverpool (in 7th), as well as a missed opportunity at widening the gap between themselves and swansea, who sit 9th in the table. from their performance in the second-half - and their absolute battering of the north londoners for the last half-hour - the baggies should probably have won this by at least a goal. but, as my mother observed on a visit to twerton park after the first 15 minutes of a bath city home game:

"i should think a goal is jolly hard to get!"

it is one of the hard facts of football, and a goal is sometimes just too jolly hard to get!


while the baggies put in a good performance, and worked hard to press home their numerical advantage at home to the gunners, they were really quite poor in their previous fixture away to west ham. in fact, the match at upton park was one of only a handful of truly weak performances on the season, and a game where west brom really showed almost nothing in the way of quality football until the last ten minutes. graham dorrans' penalty brought the team to life, and some good attacking in the last few minutes saw the baggies create a couple of scoring opportunities that might have seen the game turn. however, poor marking on set plays and the hammers' peculiarly skilful long-ball game was beyond the baggies on the day.

Stoke City F.C. 0-0 WBA

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one of a couple of things that has stood out this season is the lack of success that the baggies have had against the london sides. indeed, while they did manage the double over QPR, west brom have only taken 5 additional points of a possible 30 on offer against teams from the capital. the other big let down has been the lack of quality - on all counts - of the local derbies.

both fixtures with the villa have seemed rather listless - especially when you compare these games with the atmosphere of the baggies/wolves matches of the last few years - and despite of the fact that both sides scored twice in the match at the hawthorns, it still never found the kind of intensity that you'd hope for in one of the oldest and most historically significant derby matches in world football. meanwhile, both games with stoke city - which once counted as a "staffordshire derby" - have been an absolute joke.

tony pulis, who seems to me an absolutely joyless man - as well as a ruthless and unpleasant manager - appears to favour a brand of football that features 9 defenders with a solitary striker and bypasses the idea of a midfield altogether.


in fact, late on in their most recent match against the baggies - a dreary 0-0 draw at the britannia stadium - a long, rather aimless clearance by one of the potters' defenders that went into touch had my brother and i in hysterics. it was a bit of play that rather looked more like a fly-half kicking for field position than something you would expect in a game of association football. stoke, who have found relative success over the last few seasons in the top-flight, play some of the most miserably dull football i've ever seen.

WBA 2-1 Swansea City A.F.C.

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despite the baggies' continuing incremental improvement every year for the last decade, it will still require several more seasons - with an increase in stadium capacity and some scrupulously intelligent use of TV revenues - before the albion will be able to harbour any serious aspirations of european qualification or have a big enough squad for a successful cup run. even then, the opportunities will be fleeting.


as long as the current structure of the PREMIER LEAGUE persists, a side like west brom will, in effect, be starting each season in the top-flight from scratch. by this, i mean, they will perpetually need to scramble every summer to sign indispensable players on an annual basis. where would we have been this last few seasons without peter odemwingie or romelu lukaku? the latter being a loan signing from chelsea; and odemwingie, a goal scoring talent who was surprisingly unpopular with his home fans as a top-flight player in russia. without these kind of signings, the team would run the risk of not having a consistently competitive PREMIER LEAGUE squad.

at the end of the day, aiming for the all important "40 point" cushion, hanging on to the core of the team (in the likes of players like olsson, mcauley, brunt, morrison, long and mulumbu), acquiring important loan signings, maintaining inventive and cosmopolitan scouting networks, as well as rebuilding and/or expansion of the west stand (or so i've read), are all going to have to remain the primary focus points for the club over the next few years.

Chelsea F.C. 1-0 WBA

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we know that this year is already a success, insofar as relegation/survival hasn't been a concern at any point of the current campaign - and while things have been a bit more inconsistent in the second-half of the season, the first couple of months gave us all some hope, if not expectation, of a long stay in the top-flight and perhaps, one day even playing again in europe.


we have to remember, the baggies were on the verge of going top of the league when they ran smack into a run of poor results, starting with the away fixture against swansea at the end of november.

it was really too good to be true, and it had to end somewhere. since then, results and performance have been just a bit patchy. however, west brom have been consistent enough in picking up needed points at crucial moments and haven't lost any ground since settling in around 7th or 8th place. as long they keep on getting the required results - and while they can't quite catch liverpool anymore - the baggies will stay ahead of swansea in the battle for 8th, and have earned the right to call themselves "the best of the rest" in england's top-flight for the 2012-13 season.

Cometh the Season, Cometh the Man

following what was a particularly dull and sadly predictable UEFA EUROS, we are now into the deep dog days of summer, finding ourselves walking aimlessly through the weekends waiting for the cooler weather to deliver us from both the stifling atmosphere of the off-season as well as lives rendered pointless by lack of focus and interest.

like many other west brom supporters - and prior to the appointment of steve clarke as the new albion head coach - i was alarmed at what seemed to be a definite lack of progress in finding someone to replace roy hodgson. the early reports that claudio ranieri was in talks with the club sounded nothing more than high priced disaster in the making.

apparently, alan curbishley had turned down the job sight unseen; and there were reports that west brom were also talking to ray wilkins.

many had expected that blues' boss, chris hughton would be the main target, and was certainly the popular choice with the public, but with the ben foster situation needing to be resolved, the baggies did not want to appear too aggressive or opportunistic with their second-city neighbours and did not seriously pursue the situation. so after a brilliant season managing the cash-strapped city side, hughton has moved on and taken the job at norwich city left vacant by paul lambert's move to aston villa.

however, and probably the most compelling of the early stories was that ralf ragnick, the ex-schalke boss, looked like he was going to take the job. this was engaging enough in itself, given that germans almost never come to work in english coaching and management positions, and ragnick is - if nothing else - an interesting character. as this story spun out for a few days, it was looking as if he might be the man, and anyone reading the local papers would have assumed that the baggies had merely to strike a deal.

this all fizzled out, however, as the neurotic (but sometimes brilliant) ragnick became increasingly linked in the media to the vacancy with the belgian national side. ragnick, it seems, ultimately never warmed to the idea of coming to ply his trade in the midlands and his interest quickly dissipated for reasons that were never explained in the mainstream media.


just as it was beginning to look a bit desperate, the baggies announced that steve clarke, long-time assistant to such luminaries as ruud gullit, gianfranco zola, jose murinho, and most recently kenny dalglish, would be appointed as the new number one at the hawthorns.

while mr. clarke immediately recieved resounding endorsements from those he had worked with, he was still relatively unknown outside the inner-circles of football management. his surprise appointment immediately lit up the online messagebords with the usual nonsense characterizing chairman, jeremy peace, as a tight-fisted so-and-so and assertions that this was once again a case of west bromwich albion going for the cheapest option.

but then again, the same was said - and in turn - of gary megson, tony mowbray, and roberto di matteo.

west bromwich albion fans are very often quite demanding. much to the surprise of more than a few mainstream football journalists, as they assessed what the more vocal critics among the baggies' support had been posting online and saying on various radio phone-in shows throughout last season's campaign, it appeared that even roy hodgson never really had the full backing of some of the old time hawthorns terrace pundits, and respect for his achievements was often only grudgingly acknowledged... but that's another story.

to his credit, steve clarke does have some impressive recommendations saying that he is definitely ready for the supreme job - and at any club you would care to name. from the point of view of the albion board he's well worth the gamble. and make no mistake, bringing in a new gaffer is always a gamble no matter who it is or what the organization. at this point, it's all the club can do. when put in front of the cameras and mics, clarke said all the right things as he was introduced to the press and set out his goals for the club in no uncertain terms: to bring a more attacking style of football to the already established defensive foundations - especially for home fixtures. he also stated that he aims to see the team finish with more than 47 points in the league and that he wants to revive the traditional spirit of the albion by having a decent cup run.


with the way the albion have organized the management side of things along the lines of a european club, having a head-coach and a sporting and technical director instead of the traditional british style manager, the only new experiences for steve clarke will be picking the match-day team sheet; providing the tactics at the front-line; as well taking responsibility for the post game press statements.

for me, he seems to lack the personal charisma of some of his contemporaries, but then, he may not need it. there is no doubt that he's a shrewd and intelligent man who knows plenty about football; and if he's as tough an old scot as he appears, that might just be enough.

WBA 2-2 Arsenal F.C.

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quite incredibly, roy hodgson's west bromwich albion team came within fifteen minutes of doing the double over the arsenal, after winning at the emirates in september and holding them to a draw in this reverse fixture at the hawthorns.

there aren't too many teams in the PREMIER LEAGUE who can boast having taken 4-points from the arsenal in the course of a season. the baggies are now five games undefeated under hodgson, but despite the evident positives, the baggies are still looking for what-would-be only their second win under the new gaffer. they came close in this one, and only the gunners' superior skills and a little bit of luck saved them the point in the end.

the first noticable change that hodgson brought to the albion was to revise the playing shape from a strict 4-5-1 - which roberto di matteo started using at half-time in a match against newcastle united in last year's CHAMPIONSHIP and rarely deviated from after that - for a more defensive minded 4-4-2. this was revealed in the wolves game, with both marc-antoine fortune and peter odemwingie featured in the strikers positions. considering that the gaffer is bit more the tactician than your average manager, this was probably not altogether unexpected.



the surprise has been in the re-evaluation of certain members of the first team and how the personnel were being used. the most unexpected move, of course, has been the shrewd re-introduction of abdoulaye meite in partnering jonas olsson at centre-half. he has also been responsible for the rehabilitation of scott carson, who's playing has been much improved since his recent lay-off, and putting 30-year old irish international, steven reid, at right-back has been nothing short of a revelation. returning nicky shorey to starting left-back was long over-due, and his intelligent use of marek cech as a substitute in a defensive midfield position is obvious, but effective. the gaffer has even voiced an interest in the possibility of bringing ishmael miller back to the club. i'm even expecting simon cox to make a starting appearance soon.

hodgson knows what a player is capable of and never defers to popular or fashionable opinion about his footballers.

what hodgson has been able to do since coming to west brom is tighten up the defense, both at the back and in midfield, without detracting from the attacking flair for which the baggies are known. both youssouf mulumbu and paul scharner have scored goals recently, while players like james morrison and chris brunt are covering their defensive duties more constistently. the strike pairing of marc-antoine fortune with the high-scoring peter odemwingie always looks dangerous, especially when playing together on the break. playing in tandem with a big, strong centre-forward lends another dimension to odemwingie's game; as was clearly illustrated in the recent match with wolves.



despite the lack of wins, the baggies are definitely considered a form team at the moment and everyone knows the relatively high quality of football that they are currently playing.

while i think most albion fans were happy with the point, i was a little disappointed and thought the baggies were going to win this one. andre arshavin scored a goal of such quality that it was literally unstoppable, and the arsenal were lucky with the equalizer following a fortuitous cross which came banging back off scott carson's far post and robin van persie's slightest of touches being just enough to just edge the ball over the line past a wrong-footed abdoulaye meite.

other than the arshavin goal, however, the baggies were the better team all day and probably deserved the win. especially as they were down to 10-men and protecting a 1-0 lead for a full seven minutes of the first-half, with james morrison requiring four or five stitches in his head following a collision with an arsenal defender.

while i was absolutley elated with the last minute equalizer against wolves (especially as i was there), i was converseley and equally disappointed that the baggies didn't hang on and win this one. they had the better chances and dominated the game completely.



the baggies took the lead in the 3rd minute on a steven reid goal scored from a free-header on the first corner-kick of the game.

after throwing up a stern defensive performance in the first-half, which saw both james morrison and paul scharner recieving pretty bad head injuries (the latter having to come off at half-time), the baggies went 2-0 up on a dreadful mistake by manuel almunia. coming out of his area for a ball he should never have come for, and creating a mix-up with his defender, sebastien squillaci, the arsenal keeper left peter odemwingie an opportunity to take advantage and cleverly roll the ball into an open net.

with the baggies on an unbeaten run under roy hodgson, and with a resurgent liverpool coming to the hawthorns in two week's time, the baggies have their work cut out for them in keeping the gaffer's record intact.

WBA 3-1 Newcastle United F.C.

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roberto di matteo made a truly inspired, instructional and intelligent team selection for his starting 11 against west brom's promoted contemporaries, newcastle united.

the gaffer was really astute - and in the light of jonas olsson's continued absence through injury - to put paul scharner at centre-half. the austrian international - who has been playing as a holding midfielder in partnership with youssouf mulumbu - has been afforded a real way to relax his game, stick to the specific, technical and well-defined duties of a centre-half; as well as make better use of his natural talents as an attacking player on set pieces. in fact, it was his move to centre-half that led to his first goal for the club against everton last week. he also seems to bring the intangible quality of unifying the two central defenders, where tamas and ibanez - both excellent defenders in their own right - were struggling for the cohesion that a character like olsson - and now scharner - injects into the back-line.

likewise, the gaffer found the perfect role for graham dorrans in the holding midfield spot left open by youssouf mulumbu's two-game match suspension. the young scot looked comfortable, and with a similarly well defined set of duties in regards to his position, and like his austrian team-mate, was able to relax his game and get some much needed time with a ball at his feet in a competitive situation.



chris brunt was deployed as the central midfielder and somen tchoyi took brunt's regular place on the right wing with jerome thomas back at his usual position on the left. upon initial scrutiny, i'm sure that most people would have assumed that it would be brunt in the holding role and dorrans in his preferred attacking position. but this was real stroke of brilliance both tactically and in terms of personnel manangement.

atypcially, the baggies came straight out of the blocks, and without their usual slow start, pressed the ball from a high position with a very tight 4-5-1 formation, never allowing the toon to settle or get anything together coming forward.

peter odemwingie was excellent, tirelessly ball chasing and harrying defenders, forcing ill-concieved and desperate clearances from both the keeper and back four. his approach paid off as he later took advantage of two critical mistakes leading directly to both his goals.

however, it was actually somen tchoyi who opened the scoring on the half-hour mark. taking a short pass from chris brunt on the edge of the newcastle penalty area - and as still somewhat of an unknown quantity in the PREMIER LEAGUE - the big albion winger, holding the ball on his left foot and just long enough to see some space open up in front of him, surprisingly curled a shot inside the far post. it seemed that no one was really expecting it and being seemingly wrong-footed, he had caught both newcastle defenders and goalie alike quite unprepared.



except for a brief period in the second-half when the toon looked like they might get a goal back, the baggies were in command from the first whistle. on the heels of scott carson's excellent save from steven taylor's header, andy carrol created problems for the albion back four as he got on the end of a looping through ball that caught paul scharner desperately backpeddling and nearly responsible for an own goal. luckily marek cech, positoned well and tracking back, was able to clear the ball off the line with about a yard to spare.

other than that, newcastle were surprisingly flat and the absence of kevin nolan was more than notable.

with the score at 3-0 and the game well into stoppage time, scott carson was cruelly denied a clean sheet when peter lovenkrans scored, picking up carson's initial save from a close range shot by andy carrol. the TV replay showed carrol to have handled the ball in bringing the initial cross under control. while not intentional, it was still clearly handball and the young striker looked as surprised as anyone that the goal was allowed to stand.

this was a first-class performance and a well-timed victory helping to consolidate the baggies' return to form after five games without a win. following their first victory at goodison park since 1979, and just ahead of two important derbies - away to the villa and home to wolves - this left the albion as having the best record of last year's promoted teams as well as the being the top side amongst the four west midlands clubs.



at the beginning of the year, i had boldly picked the baggies to finish (what would be) a surprising 11th in the league. at the time it may have seemed a little optimistic, but jeremy peace, roberto di matteo, dan ashworth et al. haved worked hard and put together a better football team than i think many were aware. i knew that this team was going to be a bit of a surprise in the PREMIER LEAGUE, and a mid-table finish is beginning to look more of an eventuality than remote possibility.

their success thus far has been based on an all round excellent scouting system that has looked for competitively priced players in secondary european leagues; many of whom were completely unknown in england, as well as signing domestic top-flight cast-offs and underrated home grown talent.

in spite of this not being newcastle's day, the three promoted sides have all played beyond expectations and made a contribution towards seeing attacking football played in the top-flight in what has been the most competitive and open PREMIER LEAGUE in years. some think for the better - others, for the worse. whatever the case as to the technical state of football, it's a more entertaining competition this year, and gratifying for all the supporters of teams who've exceeded expectations and/or produced some sure-shock results.

for the moment, it's good to be an albion fan!

Everton F.C. 1-4 WBA

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following the baggies historic win at goodison park this last weekend, there should be no doubt that chris brunt is a top PREMIER LEAGUE footballer, as well as the heart and soul of roberto di matteo's west bromwich albion side.

the baggies midfielder not only delivered the corner-kick that provided paul scharner's first goal for the baggies to open the scoring, but a few minutes later scored a goal of genuine world class quality, curling a 25-yard free-kick expertly over the defensive wall and with the ball dipping perfectly into the top left-hand corner of tim howard's goal.

however, and even amongst baggies supporters themselves, i have long noticed a tendency to under-rate his talent and importance to the team. there are even those who were quick to say that it was tim howard's poor reaction time and not chris brunt's expert delivery that really allowed for his goal against everton on saturday.

while everyone and his mother was raving and drooling over graham dorrans' spectacular performance in the CHAMPIONSHIP last season, they barely seemed to notice that brunt scored nearly as many goals as dorrans and was more important as an on-field leader in inspiring the performance of the team going forward.



i heard a fellow albion supporter despairing of the northern ireland international in a conversation going on right behind me in the queue at the hawthorns station following the albion's 3-2 home win over blackpool last year.

"brunt look's like he's just about given up," i heard him moan.

he went to say that the club hadn't really had a decent centre-half since darren moore was here and that he didn't fancy the prospect of meeting blackpool in the play-offs, blah blah.

the irony was that not only had chris brunt played a good game, having delivered a perfect through-ball to ishmael miller on the baggies' first goal of the match, but nottingham forest had also lost that day leaving the baggies having all but clinched automatic promotion. but black country pessimism dies hard.

while no one denies his skill in dead-ball situations, the common wisdom concerning brunt is that he's a decent left-winger at CHAMPIONSHIP level but not possessed of enough pace or close-ball control to be a top premiership player, and can't - or doesn't - track back to defend.

while it is true that brunt plays most often as a winger, it is cutting inside towards goal and playing balls through a central position that he really excels. brunt has a direct hand in a full 50% of all west brom's goals and possesses a rare vision for what's happening on the field and spotting open channels. perhaps this was best illustrated by his goal scored away to middlesbrough last season.



people love natural, uninhibited talent. conversely, they do not fully appreciate those whose success is derived through hard work and study. i doubt, for example, that growing up in belfast, hanging out, playing five-a-sides all day with his mates, that chris brunt would have stood out as the best footballer of the lot. i imagine there were probably two or three lads, at least, who would have been more naturally skilled and better footballers than he was. however, i'm sure they all grew-up to have fine careers with the public works department or working at a job in a local factory.

chris brunt perservered, developed his basic talents, became a professional footballer, and there is no doubt that he was the baggies' man-of-the-match against everton in west brom's first win at goodison park since 1979. the northern ireland international was everywhere and had a hand in absolutely everything, evidencing that criticisms of his perceived weaknesses are either outdated or were never informed or valid in the first place.

as good as the baggies were in this one, everton were particularly poor in their finishing. jermaine beckford, coming on as a second-half substitute as the toffees made a concerted effort to get back in the game with the score still 2-1, saw himself miss several chances of equalizing before somen tchoyi and youssouf mulumbu put the issue beyond doubt with a 3rd, and then 4th goal for the albion.

while the young striker gets into good positions and has real strikers instinct, he will have to work on his first-touch control and finishing if he is to live up to his obvious ambitions, which, quite frankly, look like they might be his downfall. while his attempted bicycle kick would have been a really spectacular and exciting goal had it gone in; the fact is that he had enough time to bring the ball down and try something a little more controlled. he went for glory and screwed the ball horrifically wide of the far post.



this was a really good way to get back some form in the league after a dredful run of games for the baggies last month, and generally - whilst still awaiting the return of jonas olsson - this looks to be the core of the team that should play out the rest of the season. goalie, scott carson, has been playing some of his best football ever, dorrans will have to just play himself back into form - as will ishmael miller, and with the likes of cox and tchoyi on the bench there will be enough quality to at least survive the PREMIER LEAGUE and maybe even do a bit better than that.

the other thing about brunt - and much to his credit - is that he's very durable and only misses a few games every year through minor injuries. he is also extraordinarily consistent and poor performances are few and far between. evidence that sometimes it is better to be rooted in mental acuity, on-field vision and hard work rather than be possessed of dazzling natural and physical skills.

Wigan Athletic F.C. 1-0 WBA

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the horrible reality of life in the PREMIER LEAGUE has finally returned to visit itself upon the baggies. west bromwich albion not only played poor, tentative football, but also lost a match they probably should have won anyway.

in truth, this was a pretty terrible game all around. i watched the better part of three other PREMIER LEAGUE fixtures besides this one and two CHAMPIONSHIP matches on the day. on every level the games from the second-tier were better entertainment and very often better football than their top-flight counterparts. the pressures of the PREMIER LEAGUE and its claustrophobic atmosphere where a draw is always two points dropped rather than a single-point won sometimes makes for some of the stiffest and most anemic football played on the planet.

so it was today with the baggies. after their mid-week draw with west ham, and feeling the pressure of having lost the two games previous to that, they produced a performance so flat that it was nothing short of pathetic. watching the now infamous michael oliver make a complete mess of the reading/norwich fixture in the CHAMPIONSHIP was quite brilliant entertainment and much better football by comparison. although, i'm not so sure what i would have thought if i was a canaries supporter.



and i do put it down to just that: the pressures of the PREMIER LEAGUE. jerome thomas, chris brunt and james morrison, both collectively and individually, all had their worst game of the year - and by a long way. peter odemwingie was isolated and not getting enough of the ball. graham dorrans has not found any form this year and is a shadow of the player who absolutely terrorized the CHAMPIONSHIP last season.

to be fair, the back-line played a pretty decent game, and it was no surprise that the latics had to rely on the counter-attack to score. but there was nothing going forward and even the attack minded substitutions of giles barnes, marc-antoine fortune and simon cox could create nothing.

this was every reason i hate the premiership. this is where the adventure ends and success is measured up in multi-million pound mediocrity. even long-term survival in the PREMIER LEAGUE offers nowhere to go for a club like west brom. the FA CUP isn't what it used to be and there's very little else to hope for except perhaps one day qualifying for a secondary european competition - much like what fulham has achieved in the last few years.

on the other hand, i was reminded today of a 1-0 loss at home to crystal palace last year that accompanied a similar number of matches without a win. of course, that ended with a 5-0 thrashing of watford at the hawthorns and the baggies resumed the business of securing automatic promotion. let's only hope that this is nothing more than a similarly short loss of form and we keep up a relative standard and a consistent midtable standing.

West Ham United F.C. 2-2 WBA

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with such an unbelievably good start to the season - and having been the form team in the league through the month of september - baggies supporters are going to have to readjust their expectations somewhat. in the PREMIER LEAGUE - and provided you are not chelsea, arsenal or manchester united - a draw away from home is never a bad result.

this was the first time this year that there was no TV broadcast at all of a match. of course, i listened to the live audio commentary on ALBION RADIO and saw the highlights through ALBION PLAYER on the club website.

i haven't watched the hammers much these last few years, but i was really impressed, as there is no doubt that scott parker is the best english-born defensive midfielder in the league. his exclusion from the england team is another glaring example of how poorly run the selection process of the national side is.

not unlike countless other teams who have gone before them in PREMIER LEAGUE competition, west ham may already be steeling themselves for a relegaton battle; however, they play pretty good football and probably deserve more than they are getting at the moment. but who ever said football was fair?



as for the albion, they are desperately missing jonas olsson. as long as he is out of the team they will continue to struggle without his organization of the back-line and the ever present danger he poses as a target-man on set-pieces.

there was a tentative feeling about how the baggies attacked this game, and graham dorrans, who finally got a place in the starting eleven, still looks only half the player he did last year. the positive side of this is that it doesn't appear to have shaken the young scottish international and he already seems to possess the maturity to ride out a spell of poor form. he still wants the ball and tries to get involved in the game and we will no doubt see some of his best stuff before the season is out.

this match produced some pretty terrific football from the two respective midfields and saw some exciting spells of possession with each side producing a good passing game with neither really able to find anything in the final third.

west ham created the first really good chance of the match when carlton cole put a free-header resulting from a corner-kick just over scott carson's cross-bar.

peter odemwingie marked his return to the starting line-up by quite surprisingly and boldly stepping forward to take a penalty after steven reid had been dragged down in the hammer's box. the nigerian striker delivered a calm, text-book spot-kick placed perfectly and accurately in the lower left-hand corner of the net.

just as the baggies looked like they had taken control of the game, had the better of the possession and looked the more likely of the two to score before the break, the hammers equalized before half-time on what has to be one of the goals of the season. taking advantage of paul scharner's careless effort in trying to football his way out of trouble in a dangerous area, scott parker smacked in an absolutely unstoppable effort from 30 yards out into the top right hand corner of scott carson's goal.



it was really something made out of nothing and brought the otherwise dour and largely silent upton park crowd to life, as both teams created good chances for themselves in a flurry of end to end action during the last two minutes of the first-half.

the hammers came back for the second-half to a greatly improved atmosphere and an added confidence. not surprisingly they took the lead on a frederic piquionne penalty awarded after gabriel tamas bundled kieron dyer to the ground in the baggies' penalty area.

the albion equalized through pablo ibanez, and a superb delivery from chris brunt. with west ham unable to clear their lines following a baggies' corner-kick, brunt sent a brilliant ball back across goal and found the head of ibanez to bring the score-line level at 2-2.

while this was a good performance by the baggies away from home, i still can't help but feel - much like i did with last year's team - that we haven't seen them live up to their potential and play the football of which i believe they are capable, and that this was a match they would have won had jonas olsson been fit.

in light of this, the result against the hammers will seem significantly more important if west brom can manage an away win at wigan on saturday.

WBA 0-2 Manchester City F.C.

live text replay





this was really depressing, and made all the worse by the unfortunate away loss to blackpool on the previous monday. if we'd gotten a result at bloomfield road, it wouldn't have been as important for the baggies. but they now run the risk of losing ground in the table and having some of thier good early results in the league undone somewhat. this was also the sorry end of an unbeaten home run for the baggies at the hawthorns dating back to last january.

there's certainly no shortage of talent at manchester city these days, but they haven't looked much of a team so far this season and were coming off three straight losses going into this encounter at the hawthorns. there was public in-fighting amongst the team during matches and rumours that roberto mancini had lost control of the dressing room. the problems of managing the world's most expensive set of footballing individuals were becoming painfully evident. as well, wolves hadn't done the baggies any favours by beating manchester city in the league last weekend, and the italo-mancunian millionaires club absolutely needed to win this one - in every sense and for every practical reason.

looking more like s.s. lazio than manchester's favourite footballing sons, they went about doing so in a very professional manner. the sky blues scored twice early on, before they went about slowing things up and shutting the game down. it was very continental in both in style and pace and i felt a bit like i was watching a SERIE A match. i thought it sad that this is the future of english football.

the baggies started off well enough with chris brunt coming close to creating a goal in the first few minutes. the northern ireland international split the city defence with a clever run and got on the end of through-ball from marc-antoine fortune that required a desperate last-ditch clearance from city's right-back, kolo toure, which was very nearly an own-goal, just going past the outside of joe hart's left-hand post for a baggies' corner-kick.



the skill of carlos tevez was in full evidence and it was he who really made the first goal. the argentinian linked up with striker mario balotelli showing a straight forward piece of skill, taking on and beating his defender from a dangerous position and sending in a low ball accross the face of goal for the £24-million italian to knock in at scott carson's near post. it was a casual enough score for the young striker, and just about what you'd expect from players of manchester city's class, cost and caliber.

the second goal was a bit of good fortune with balotelli getting a lucky bounce of the ball which had gabriel tamas turned the wrong way. it looked a bit soft and albion's romanian centre-half might've been more quick thinking and physically resolute in dealing with balotelli.

simon cox came close to a goal as he sent a 25-yard belter screaming back off the sky blues' goal-post. it was probably the best effort by the baggies in the match, and might have heralded the possibility of a comeback had it gone in.



this was a really pretty ill-tempered affair which produced ten cards and two sendings off, including the goal-scorer balotelli, who, despite his obvious talent in leading the line, scoring goals and being worth loads of money is a petty, unpleasant individual. youssouf mulumbu also got himself ejected for a second yellow-card - and subsequent mandatory red - and will be out for the mid-week clash with west ham.

this was just a cruel reminder that life in the PREMIER LEAGUE is going to be tough. historic results and heroic victories are not always going to be the order of the day; and while the beginning of the season has been a a bit gilded and might have had the albion faithful dreaming of glory just a little more than they really have a right to at the moment, it's going to be a long haul with more than a few disappointing results. while it was nice for awhile to dream about being in the top-six and european nights returning to the hawthorns, a mid-table finish would be a monumental acheivement this season.

this was a nasty reminder of that very fact.

Blackpool F.C. 2-1 WBA

live text replay




as albion midfielder, steven reid, observed after this match at bloomfield road, the baggies may take more positives and as yet unseen advantages from what was a pretty wierd match, and which conspired to end the baggies eight-game unbeaten streak.

i must admit, i was really pleased and impressed with roberto di matteo's team selection and especially glad that simon cox was included in the starting side. cox rightfully deserved the chance with graham dorrans yet to find playing form this season, and james morrison out with an injury. so cox had really earned the chance given his terrific goal scoring form in the LEAGUE CUP.

this looked set to be a classic between two surprising teams who've played some of the most consistently exciting football in the PREMIER LEAGUE this year after both came into the league as CHAMPIONSHIP promotion winners last season. with full international TV coverage, two excellent managers and a chance to show the world their enterprising and attacking brands of football, blackpool v. west brom on a monday night looked to be perfect fare with all the ingredients for a big occasion.

but, and as dave bowler of ALBION RADIO noted before the kick-off, there had to be some concerns about the match being put under the charge of the PREMIER LEAGUE's youngest referee, and his ability to control the game in the face of such an auspicious occassion. his concerns proved prophetic as the 25-year-old ref, michael oliver, was completely out of his depth, went "card-happy" at the first difficult decision and soured what might have otherwise been a really entertaining match.

both sides started out showing enterprising attacking games and simon cox tested the tangerines' goalie, matt gilks, from an acute angle early on.

the match swung wildly with just ten minutes gone as d.j. campbell got on the end of a long through ball in the albion penalty area. the blackpool striker pushed the ball forward on a single stride and past the last defender, pablo ibanez, before running into the baggies centre-half, who was marking him perilously closely. campbell went down and was quite incredibly awarded a penalty decision. however, it rather appeared that if anyone had been fouled it was ibanez, and the ref should probably have waved play on.



but it was a bad call and i think that young mr. oliver knew it pretty quickly. however - and seeing as how he hadn't consulted either the linesman or fourth official - he should just have followed through with the consequence of his mistake, got on with the game, allow for the subsequent penalty kick to be taken and leave it at that. but, i believe that mr. oliver panicked, and feeling the need to reinforce his decision (and make demonstration of his control of the match), issued a direct red card to the spanish centre-half and sent the match in a bad direction. the young man was clearly out of his depth and it showed on his face.

the penalty was a poor enough call, but i think everyone could've probably lived with it. bad calls are part of the game. that has always been my stance on the issue of how matches are refereed. like i said, i could've lived with the penalty - and even a yellow card, if he really felt it necessary to back up his point as to who was in control of the match; but the red-card was a complete injustice and i will be surprised if the baggies don't appeal the decision.

di matteo's only immediate change was to bring off simon cox and bring on steven reid to fill in at centre-half. this for me was the really unfortunate aspect of the red card against pablo ibanez. as it denied simon cox an opportunity that won't come around too often. i have to really feel for the young striker who is the victim of some really miserable fortune and his performances in the LEAGUE CUP continue to go unrewarded as far as a starting place in league fixtures go.

the albion looked comfortable enough for the next 15-20 minutes, allowed blackpool most of the possession and settled into their new defensive shape, with striker, marc-antoine fortune dropping back to cover the central midfield.

a few hard challenges saw the game begin to get a little heated with youssouf mulumbu picking up a yellow card. luke varney, the blackpool striker, went about trying to provoke one or two of the baggies' players - to see if (among other things) he could goad the congolese midfielder into a committing a second bookable offense. the albion were still rattled by the red-card and not really creatively adjusted to playing with only 10-men. they could not, it seemed, get over the sense of injustice or shake the feeling that the occasion had been soured.



this all changed, when just on half-an-hour gone, albion right-back, gonzalo jara, lost it with varney and in a moment of madness, recklessly went in with a full-on, studs-up, two-footed tackle when the blackpool forward had got himself harmlessly trapped near the corner-flag and actually looked to have taken the ball into touch. quite rightly, jara was shown an immediate red-card and the baggies were left now down to 9 men. it immediately put things in perspective and it felt as if all was about to go from bad to worse.

however, di matteo's strategic substitution of graham dorrans for fortune was a masterful piece of resource management and team selection. the scottish international, who has not had an opportunity to find any real form this season, came on and made obvious what the gaffer should have done at the advent of the first red card.

with graham dorrans coming on to spearhead a strikerless formation, it was evident by half-time that if the baggies had gone 4-5-0 before jara's red-card, they would have easily been able to get a draw and would probably have won the match. the albion - and their travelling support - came back for a second-half with loads of optimism and the intent of nicking a point from what was still a 1-0 score-line.

it was in the second-half that the baggies began to play some truly inspired and entertaining football. with only 8 out-field players in a 4-4-0 formation, they had to withstand a 60-40 per cent disadvantage in possession, but held the tangerines for over half-an-hour before conceding the second and - what would turn out to be - winning goal on an overlapping run by reg varney, finally taking advantage of a stretched albion backline.

it really didn't matter, because by that point the baggies looked to have taken all the positives they could from such adverse conditions. graham dorrans had been given an ideal forum in which to work his way back into some much needed game-form, and the team's performance over the course of the game had the travelling supporters in full voice, filled with pride and thoroughly entertained. it may, in fact, have been the turning point of roberto di matteo's career at the hawthorn's, as the valiant efforts of the nine-man albion side and the intelligent reserve of the gaffer, worked to forge a deeper bond between squad and supporter than has been at the club in the long time.



youssouf mulumbu, who was really the standout player of the match, single-handedly got a goal back in the 85th minute. taking control of the ball just outside the blackpool penalty area, the congolese midfielder came forward into space and smashed the ball past matt gilks. suddenly - and quite surprisingly - the baggies were back in the match.

the albion pressed for the equalizer and scott carson even came forward for one of the last corner kicks. graham dorrans got on the end of a late free-kick, but the ball stuck under his feet just in front of goal and was only able to set up a shot for steven reid, who looked certain to score and produce the unlikeliest of results, but slipped on the greasy bloomfield road pitch and put the ball over the bar.

the game was gone, but the valiant effort of the nine-man albion had not only produced an entertaining match and come close to getting a result, but they may have written the beginning of a new chapter in west bromwich albion folk-lore. the players that took part in this game have a created a tremendous sense of camaraderie going into next weekend's home game with manchester city. both the supporters and the team seem like they're up for anything at the moment.

The Dust Now Settled

i was hopping mad after the albion's opening day 6-0 demolition at the hands of league champions, chelsea. i was certainly never expecting a win, and my initial reaction to the outcome was hugely over the top. so i have had to step back, try and figure out what i actually felt and make a proper assessment.

what really had me going - and what might have seemed irrelevent to many, in light of the one-sided scoreline - was chris brunt being played in a newly created defensive midfield position alongside congolese veteran, youssouf mulumbu. at first, i was perplexed. brunt featured as both right and left winger last year, was the club's second-highest scorer, as well as being a motivating force and important influence when pushing the team into attack. while he has a great deal of technical skill, is something of a dead-ball specialist, as well as a first-rate passer also possessed of a great shot, he has never been noted as a particularly good defender.

indeed, while the first chelsea goal scored just on 6 minutes gone was the goalie's mistake, the second was caused by brunt's inability to hold his position in the wall allowing a didier drogba free-kick to sneak through the gap. part of my point here is this: if brunt had been on the right-wing (where he is usually played in partnership with left-winger, jerome thomas and central midfield maestro, graham dorrans) he would never had been in the defensive wall in the first place!!! so, where most of the criticisim i encountered was levelled against his inability to defend, i was much more critical of the choice to play him as a defender.



while this didn't seem as big an issue with other supporters, they were still confused and thought it a strange position for the northern ireland international to be playing in.

another negative aspect to brunt being in the middle of the park, is that his prescence - and knowing his ability to thread perfect balls into space for the forwards - had graham dorrans pushed too far upfield without the room he needs to direct and dictacte movement in the final-third. moving chris brunt from the wing was disruptive to the entire attack and negated the baggies' offensive thrust when the match itself and/or a more reasonable scoreline were still within reach.

as i realized later on, playing brunt out of position like this is proabably due to the fact that common footballing wisdom would dictate that at premier league level, brunt is not fast enough to play his accustomed wide positions; and that the gaffer's new defensive-look 4-5-1 setup is going to need to be able to break going forward with more pace than a player like chris brunt can produce. if this is indeed true, then i think it would be a slavish assumption that the gap in quality between the top-flight and league football is too big to overcome; and what you were doing to great success in the championship will never work at the higher level of premier league football! the only answer is to success in the top-flight, it seems, is to have a chairman who can be pressured to "spash the cash" on signings beyond their means.

sadly, what i think this situation ultimately means is that they either find a new role for chris brunt, or he may not have a place in di matteo's vision for west bromwich albion. if this is so, then i am just sad that a player i have always admired, found entertaining, enjoyed watching and cheering for is no longer of proper use to the club to which i have eternally pledged my support.



i have - until this point in time - always been a supporter and defender of di matteo's and have never had any essential reason to criticize his management of the club; either in the signings he's made, the players he's let go, his team selection or tactical planning. in fact, i thought he was brilliant at managing his resources and maximizing on the side as a whole. he re-invigorated the spirit of some of the players who were dissatisfied and under-used during the reign of tony mowbray. he even coaxed a few good performances and several goals out of luke moore during the front end of the season.

in chris brunt, you have a player who scored 8 goals in his last premiership campaign. it seems stupid to me - and in light of the fact that you are going to need goals to get results - that even if brunt is not in the gaffer's long-term plans, di matteo doesn't have a better or more enthusiastic natural winger in the side at the moment; and he should playing to the team's strengths, not initiating some abstract practice in damage control - especially before any damage has been done!

when the albion acquired gabriel tamas and steven reid at the end of last season, it was evident that the gaffer was looking to shore up the team's defence. with the further signing of spanish centre-half, pablo ibanez, from atletico madrid - and now nicky shorey from the villa - it was the first time in years that the albion have the makings of a solid back-four. i thought that they would move a player like steven reid into a defensive midfield pairing with youssouff mulumbu and concentrate on acquiring a first-rate striker. other than that, i couldn't really see much need to change things around. which, in fact, they really haven't all that much, but the changes made have been poor. for my money, chris brunt is much more important to the team than most supporters - and i suspect some of the management - seem able to imagine. i believe this positional move has caused severe problems in the basic structure of and throughout the entire west brom attack (jerome thomas excluded).

knowing that brunt will again be playing in the defensive midfield in the home match against sunderland at the hawthorns on saturday, i am disappointed. it should have been obvious to one and all that it is a bad idea. but then again, that may be why i'm not a football manager...

however, and as a supporter, i can only hope that they find something in it and get the 3 points from sunderland at home.

The Black Hole of the Premier League

west brom - as with almost all the other teams who've been identified as potential "strugglers" in the premier league - are having more trouble than usual making their pre-season signing targets.

while the baggies have cleverly kept together an all important core group of players, consolidated their targeted loan signings from last year, and have made some important new acquisitions in specific and identifiable defensive positions - including a second goalie, they have been unable to get any interest from suitable strikers at premiership level; and - if i'm to take the current postings in various online discussion forums as any indication - the supporters are beyond impatient. take a look at the shattering negativity of some of the more recent posts and subsequent discussions on BBC 606, for example.

there is a wide-held belief that it's all down to chairman, jeremy peace, not making an adequate amount of money available for transfers and player wages. i don't think it's quite that simple. for sure, JP has requisites, hard-line precedents, and a measured limit on what can be spent. but much of mr. peace's caution derives from the fact that the baggies simply don't have a rich owner, benefactor, corporate interest, or any other source of benevolent, interested, and ambitious money with which to strengthen the squad. therefore, it's got to be done in a measured and careful manner, with managable goals, that will ensure that the club is always at least competitive for a place in the top-flight, and does not go the way of leeds, sheffield wedneday, sheffield united, charlton, norwich, southampton, portsmouth and hull (to name just a few) who have all run afoul of what can happen to a club when it spends premier league money and doesn't live up to top-flight competitive requirements.

hull city, for example, played two seasons in the premiership before being relegated, but spent something more like three seasons worth of money in doing so. while the parachute payments will help with the club's debt, they will lose much of their squad and may eventually end up in a relegation battle at the wrong end of the championship. no matter what other criticisms you may have - and with JP as chairman - you will never see this at west bromwich albion.

as always, teams like manchester united, liverpool, arsenal, tottenham, manchester city and chelsea have a definite edge in attracting players. while this has long been true, it hasn't always been about the money! in the past, and for young footballers looking to get into their national sides or just expand their professional opportunities, these were traditionally clubs where one went to fulfill their aspirations.

but with the focus now shifting ever towards the financial considerations as the bottom line, sportsmanship and its attendant aspirations have been banished to an antiquated afterthought. coupled with the structure of the premier league, both financially and in terms of the number of player personnel that a team can now employ - the gap in between the top-half of the premiership and that of the bottom-half is finally and glaringly evident in a way it never quite has been before. the dream is more than over. it has been trashed and forgotten. even everton, the team that holds the record for the number of consecutive years in the english top flight - and a club that has always held its own with the other top sides, both on and off the pitch, - is now a second grade team with apparently limited resource; while the likes of wigan, west brom, and bolton are now treated as decidedly undesirable destinations to look for a career move.

nobody, it seems, is signing anybody.

indeed, the situation is so bad that roberto di matteo has now stated in an interview with BBC WM that he doubts there will be anymore signings between now and the beginning of the season. personally, i found it to be a bit out of character for di matteo, who usually does not discuss internal football politics with the press, and took it as a statement to the supporters demonstrating that this is the way things are at the moment and that he's as frustrated as they are. the all important required striker is just not there, and there's probably not much point in worrying about it until september or the right opportunity presents itself.

i think the baggies can take heart at the recent resurgence of midlands football in the premier league. with the relative and recent successes of wolves, birmingham, stoke city, and a squad that includes ishmael miller, roman bednar, simon cox, graham dorrans, chris brunt and a series of new defensive signings, i feel that things could be starting out a whole lot worse for the albion than they are.